Diphtheria outbreak kills 84 in Yemen: WHO

Ibb and al-Hodeidah provinces are the hardest-hit by the disease

Yemen

By Mohamed al-Samei

SANAA

A diphtheria outbreak has killed 84 people in war-torn Yemen since late October, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday.

In a statement, the UN agency said some 1,516 suspected cases of diphtheria have been registered in 20 of Yemen’s 23 provinces. It listed Ibb and al-Hodeidah provinces in central and western Yemen as the hardest-hit by the disease.

Diphtheria spreads as easily as the common cold through sneezing, coughing or even talking, according to health officials.

Yemeni health authorities have recently launched a major vaccination campaign across the country in an effort to avert the growing spread of the disease.

Yemen has been racked by violence since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country. The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

The ongoing violence has devastated basic services, including water and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe the situation in Yemen as one of “the world’s worst humanitarian disasters in modern times”.